A family that lost both parents to brain tumors just gave Penn Medicine a $35 million start on beating them

John Gabriele Troiano lost both of his parents to brain tumors, and he and his wife Rosanna decided to turn that grief into fuel. Their lead gift, combined with Penn Medicine's own investment and other donors, launches a $35 million initiative and a new home for the work: the Troiano Brain Tumor Center in Philadelphia. The center brings neurosurgeons, neurologists, cancer specialists and brain researchers onto one team, with early-phase trials, coordinated patient care, a survivorship clinic, and two endowed professorships named for John's parents. It builds on Penn work the family already backed, including CAR T cell therapy — treatment that reprograms a patient's own immune cells — for glioblastoma, the most aggressive brain tumor.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: funding & finance